Sign lost in Hurricane Sandy washes up 3,589 miles away

A “FOR Sale” sign blown away by Hurricane Sandy from a seafront house in New Jersey in 2012 has been found on a beach in France – 3,589 miles away.

The sign had been mounted in the back garden of a property in the Jersey Shore town of Brielle in October 2012. The house faces a narrow inlet called Debbie’s Creek.

When the hurricane struck the east coast, it inflicted major flooding and damage in the area, killing 72 people. It also wrenched off the plastic For Sale sign, along with its wooden post.

The firm of estate agents presumed they would never see it again.

However, more than five years later, a man strolling along the Plage du Pin Sec near Bordeaux, western France, spotted the board. It had lost a chunk but he could still make out the faded words: “Diane Turton Realtors 732292-1400”.

The man, Hannes Frank, 64, a semiretired software consultant who lives in Brussels, found it “quaint”, according to The New York Times, and decided to contact the company via email.

He wrote: “Hi, Just wanted to let you know that I found part of one of your signposts washed up on the beach near Bordeaux, France. Not in best shape after that crossing.”

At first taking it for a prank, the company only realised the email was genuine after receiving a photo.

Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer, said that judging by how long it took, the sign may have been on its third crossing of the Atlantic.